The Best Tip Of All
by LunacyRail
Summary: When Lucy finally gets to try out the restaurant 'Fairy Tail' she could never predict that their server would end up having such a horrible sense of customer service. Even if he was terrible however, she feels awful when her friends leave their idea of a 'good' tip'...leading to a very interesting conclusion and possibly The Best Tip Of All. NALU AU.


**Prompt:** You were a bad server to my table so for a tip my friends wrote that you should get better customer service. I felt bad though so I came back at closing hoping to give you a proper tip as an apology.

 **NALU - ONE SHOT AU**

 **A/N:** So… I've been feeling a bit writer's blocked on "You'll Be The End Of Me." Thus I started writing this one shot to post in-between…but it's ended up being multi chapter because I'm a horrible person. Anyway, enjoy, I hope you like it!

* * *

It had been an average day out and about for Lucy, accompanied by close friends. Those specific friends being none other than Levy, Cana, Erza, and Juvia. What she had not been aware of however, was how unordinary this sub-par day would turn out to be.

"Lu-chan, you should pick a place to eat." The bluenette beside her spoke with a smile.

"Huh, me? Are you sure?" Lucy questioned.

"Yeah, Lucy, you never pick, so pick something." came the sassy quip of the brunette within the small group as they walked through town centre of Magnolia.

"Well..."

"Which place?" Scarlet locks finally interjected with a quirked brow, when Lucy hesitated.

"There was this one place I wanted to try..."

"Juvia wants to know what place we are going." She interrupted, speaking in third person as she always had.

"It's called Fairy Tail..." Lucy let off, surprised by the sudden excitement that had hit Juvia, starting with sparkles in her eyes.

"Absolutely! Gray-sama works at Fairy Tail so Juvia wants to go too." Lucy sweat dropped in response, as Erza let off a chuckle crossing her arms over her chest.

"Very well it's decided then; we'll go to Fairy Tail."

* * *

It had not taken long for the five to reach the aforementioned eatery, eyeing it over as they approached; Lucy attempted to hide her excitement. She had wanted to try this place out for months now, and here it was finally coming to fruition.

Entering Lucy took note of how jam packed it was; she began to wonder how long they might have to wait to be seated, her auburn irises taking mind of the staff running about in calmed frantic states. The others took a seat on the benches designed for guests who were waiting to be seated beginning to chatter about the interesting design within the restaurant. Lucy on the other hand decided to excuse herself to the 'bathroom' though her true intention was the curiosity brimming within her chest.

She had been in awe over the detail put into establishment; it looked as if those who built it put every ounce of love and care they could muster into each and every detail. A smiled danced onto her lips as her eyes traced over each design. She was in a state of reverence, well until she made it to where the kitchen area started coming upon what sounded like a one sided argument, or perhaps just someone cussing out the empty air. Her first instinct had been to walk away, but oh, how her curiosity was out of control today. As she approached the voice the words became much clearer, causing her eyes to adjust wider.

* * *

"Damn that droopy eyed bastard!" He half shouted with a furrowed brow, salmon locks shifting with the furry of his tone. "What's with him just takin' off like that?"

"He mentioned something about a girl he didn't want to run into at the moment~" Came a calmed female response followed by a light giggle.

"Tch, who cares about that? Since when is he afraid of some girl? I'm gonna kick his ass next time I see him."

Lucy's brow rose in curiosity peeping on the two, she took in the beautiful form of the female; she was utterly perfect leaving Lucy to wonder just why she was working in a restaurant when she could easily be a model. Her eyes however couldn't help but jump to the male who seemed oh so upset with what was it 'droopy eyes'? The insult made her want to laugh though she held it back for the time being, taking in his appearance. The first thing anyone would notice about him was the salmon mop messily arranged atop his head, next though she took full sight of his peculiarly onyx oculars, feeling as if they were piercing through her with ease…but wait how could that be unless he was …

* * *

Lucy's breath hitched in her throat, pursing her lips at the realisation that not only had he stopped ranting but he was staring straight at her.

"S-Shit…" came the low whisper from her lips as she held back the desire to yelp, left frozen and yet feeling just the opposite; her body was aflame.

"Hn?" The model like woman let off, tilting her head to the side at his intense stare, curiously she followed his gaze seeing Lucy standing there almost seeming as if she had turned directly to stone. She smiled warmly at the startled blonde before her.

"Our apologies did you need assistance?" The kind tone of her voice snapped Lucy back to reality as she stumbled over her words.

"N-no…um I was just…bathroom…going now…sorry to intrude…ahaha…" A nervous laugh came out against her will as she held her hands up defensively.

"Oh…" The woman smiled once more, somehow putting Lucy just a little bit more at ease. "If you're looking for the bathroom Natsu can show you. Right?" She eyed him with an assuming gaze, watching as his stare turned toward herself shifting to a gape.

"Huh? Me? Why do I gotta do it Mira?"

A sweat drop formed on Lucy's forehead, she wanted nothing more than to escape this horribly embarrassing situation. Mira as she was finally named gave him a slight scowl.

"The customer needs assistance, so assist her, also because…" She leaned forward whispering something into Natsu's ear that Lucy couldn't quite gather. Whatever it was however caused Natsu's face to gain a shade of crimson so slight she wasn't sure it wasn't just the lighting.

"Huh? What are you talkin' about Mira!" He exclaimed forcing his gaze away from either of the two females.

"I uh…I think I can find it on my-" Lucy began only to have her words halted when Natsu very abruptly took her wrist into his hand.

"Jeez, what's with that making me do this…damn what a pain." He grumbled pulling Lucy toward the bathrooms, leaving her too shocked to reply. Wide chocolate eyes darting between his back and the extreme warmth of his hand on her wrist, she was praying to any god that popped into her head that her face was not as inflamed as it felt.

"…Warm…" Escaped her lips; Natsu paused in step glancing back at her with a scowl and puffed out cheeks that spoke to his annoyance.

"Huh?" He let off, and even as Lucy was internally screaming at herself to deny any sort of words she spoke up.

"Warm…you're warm…" That was it; she was sure by now that her cheeks must be on fire. His brow twitched for a moment, trying to comprehend her words.

"Oh? Of course, it's the flame of my anger." Lucy pursed her lips, he certainly had no qualms about being up front and honest, and yet something about that aspect was appealing.

"Eh…I'm sorry about this…I can go on my own…" She glanced away in her own sort of annoyance as Natsu furrowed his brow scrutinizing her face for a moment before sighing. He began walking forward again, pulling her along to her own surprise.

As they reached the bathroom he released her wrist.

"Here it is." He spoke through pursed lips, very clearly attempting to contain his irritation. Lucy gave a sheepish smile; she hadn't the heart to tell him she didn't actually need the bathroom.

"Thank you…" She offered a light bow, unable to stop herself from watching him saunter…well more like stomp away from her and back to work. What she hadn't noticed was that a smile had precariously crept onto her lips.

* * *

"Thank you for waiting, I'll seat you now." Mira smiled as she approached Lucy's group. Cana looked their hostess over, suddenly gaining a mischievous grin, while nudging Lucy in the side and directing her to look at Mira's voluptuous figure with her eyes.

"She might have bigger boobs than you Lucy." She whispered, causing the blonde to furrow her brow, even as a blush spread across her cheeks.

"Cana." She gave a warning tone, only causing the brunette to laugh it off.

Once they were seated at a lovely corner booth with the perfect amount of sun coming through thanks to a very coy and specific idea on their hostess's part, Mira offered yet another inviting smile.

"Can I get you something to drink to start?" Her kind laced question rang out.

"Do ya serve alcohol?" Cana spoke right up.

"Yes we do, what can I get you, how about the house favourite?"

"Sounds good." Cana smirked. Mira nodded, jotting down something on her notepad.

"Iced Tea, please." Levy spoke next.

"Oh, that sounds good, I'll have that too." Lucy added.

"Do you have strawberry milk shakes?" Erza requested,

"Ah, yes, we do, would you like that?" Mira smiled, as Erza, arms crossed over her chest, nodded happily. "And for you?" She eyed Juvia,

"Juvia wants water." Though as she was speaking she was glancing about seemingly looking for someone.

"Alright. Your server with be with you shortly, and I'll have those drinks to you soon as well."

"Thank you." Lucy smiled, something about Mira's smile was absolutely contagious.

* * *

After they had been brought their drinks and had enough time to look at the menu, the group set their menu's at the edge of the table to signify that they were ready to order.

Natsu on the other hand was in the back with his sleeves rolled up, begrudgingly helping wash dishes in-between his serving duties.

"Sorry about this Natsu." The girl to his left who looked suspiciously similar to Mira spoke.

"Hey don't worry about it Lisanna, s'not your fault, it's that damn ice princess." He first started out grinning, followed by a scowl as he mentioned 'Ice Princess.' Lisanna sweat dropped, surely it had nothing to do with gray leaving, it was more that they were severely short staffed today to begin with.

"Natsu, table 7 is ready to order~!" Mira called as she breezed by with a bucket full of more dishes.

"Got It!" He let off, pulling his arms from the clean dish water, and shaking them several times rather than drying them properly before heading back out to the front.

"Romeo is on his way here to help with dishes." Mira voiced, putting the dirty dishes into the water.

"Phew." Lisanna sighed in relief.

* * *

"Damn what's taking so long, my booze ran out." Cana grumbled.

"Hmm it is taking a rather long while." Erza added.

"Juvia wants to see Gray-sama." Juvia whined, not caring how long it was taking, as she was only here to see her 'beloved'. Both Levy and Lucy sweat dropped.

"Well…they are super busy…" Levy tried.

"True…and probably short staffed." Lucy mused, remembering the disgruntled server Natsu from earlier.

"Oi." The generally aggravated tone of their server snapped each of their attention back from their conversation. Lucy flinched when she laid eyes on just who their server had turned out to be. Why did it have to be the same guy?

"Bought time." Cana let off; she was clearly in the mood to be troublesome. She only smirked when Natsu leered at her in response, refusing to get rid of the scowl on his face for the customer's sake. The moment he set eyes on Lucy however he seemed to gain just a little bit of tension.

"Let's just order okay…" Lucy brow twitched while she attempted to smooth the strange glare fest going on currently.

"Mm, I'll have-" Erza started. "With an extra order of Strawberry cake."

"Make me a beer battered steak." Cana went next. Natsu looked at her as if she was purposefully asking for something that was not on the menu.

"We don't serve that." He spoke, with a blunt tone.

"So what, make it anyway." She replied, smirking at him. Natsu however was just as aware as she was that she wasn't actually being horrible, she was joking in some sort of manner.

"Tch." He ignored her looking at Lucy, as if to skip over Cana's order completely. "What do you want?" Lucy looked at him a bit startled.

"Me?"

"Yeah, I'm lookin' at you aren't I?" He mused, holding back a smirk. Lucy pursed her lips in response narrowing her eyes at him, watching as he was full on trying not to laugh at her physical retort now. Begrudgingly however she told him what she wanted, and he jotted it down smirking to himself.

Once everyone else had ordered, including Cana, Natsu had simply picked up the menus and walked away without saying anything else to them. Truly his customer service was on the failing side.

"What a pain in the ass." Cana commented, bringing out a flask from inside her shirt, presumably having been hidden in her bra, she began pouring the clear liquid into her existing drink.

"You brought that with you." Levy commented with a nervous smile.

"Course' don't want to spend too much extra money on booze when I can just bring it with me." Lucy couldn't help but laugh at that comment, sighing, and regaining her composure after the tense situation.

* * *

Natsu made his way back to the kitchen area after dropping the menu's at the front desk area. He put in the orders with a heavy sigh tempted to 'forget' Cana's order out of spite. It was only the beginning of his shift and already he was feeling completely fed up. Immediately the kitchen staff got to work, as what appeared to be two main cooks called out orders to the rest. A largely built male who resembled both Lisanna and Mira, was shouting about how a real man gets orders cooked properly and on time. Then there was the older male adorning ginger locks and a starting beard, whom had spent half his time cracking jokes and flirting with his female co-workers.

Natsu had at the very least found either of the cook's antics entertaining, bringing some of his deadened spirit back, he turned peeking out from the kitchen at the packed restaurant. The interesting fact however had been that he couldn't have cared less about his other tables, no, what was drawing his eye was the strange way the filtered sunlight made Lucy's hair look like woven gold.

* * *

 **A/N:** Oh, a cliff hanger? Yes a cliff hanger. But only because, I'm terrible and became too impatient to post what I had so far of this new story. I hope you all enjoy this AU, feel free to tell me what you think in a review. ;A; I love you all.


End file.
